Rays endure long delay, win in wee hours

June 01, 2013|Reuters

The Sports Xchange

Rays endure long delay, win in wee hours

CLEVELAND -- The hardest part for Tampa Bay was waiting for the rain to finally stop. Once it did, the Rays belted three home runs, two by James Loney, and four pitchers combined on a one-hitter in a 9-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians in a game that started Friday night and ended at 2:53 a.m. ET Saturday.

The victory extended Tampa Bay's winning streak to six games.

The game was halted three times in the first two innings for a total of 4 hours, 49 minutes. The three delays lasted 1:57, 13 minutes and 2:39.

The third delay came after the top of the second inning. Play resumed at 12:13 a.m., but not before Indians general manager Chris Antonetti, manager Terry Francona, Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon and the umpiring crew walked around in the outfield.

"We wanted the check on the condition of the field," Francona said. "Once the game starts, the umpires take over, and we got a ton of cooperation from them. Their biggest thing was that if we played, they wanted to do their best so that we could play nine innings, which was good."

Maddon said, "The group here really felt the Indians wanted to play the game. The grounds crew did a great job."

Once the rain stopped, the Rays started hitting, and the Indians did almost no hitting at all. Loney belted a two-run homer in the third and added a solo homer in the eighth.

Cleveland's only hit was an RBI double by Ryan Raburn off reliever Josh Lueke in the fifth. The Indians sent the minimum three batters to the plate in seven of the other eight innings.

The rains resulted in both starting pitchers leaving by the second inning, so the game turned into a battle of the bullpens, which Tampa Bay won handily.

Neither starting pitcher, Moore nor Cleveland's Corey Kluber, returned after the third rain delay. Moore pitched one scoreless inning, retiring all three batters he faced. Kluber pitched two hitless innings, striking out three.

"I tried my best to stay loose during the delays, but it got to be too long and I couldn't go back out there," Kluber said.

After the third rain delay, the Rays came out swinging against Indians left-hander Scott Barnes. Tampa Bay scored five runs and had four hits, two of them home runs, in the top of the third.

Joyce hit a three-run homer, his 10th home run of the season, and Loney belted his sixth homer, also a two-run shot, as the Rays took a 5-0 lead.

"That was a tough one for Barnes," Francona said. "We were hoping to get some length out of him, but it didn't work out."

Joyce said the players weren't sure during the rain delay whether the game would be played or not.

"It was tough," he said. "A lot of guys were ready to go home and play a doubleheader tomorrow."

Wright replaced Moore after the rain delay and retired the first nine batters he faced. A sacrifice fly by Yan Gomes and Raburn's RBI double cut the Rays' lead to 5-2 after five innings.

Loney belted his second home run of the game in the eighth, a solo shot of Bryan Shaw. The Rays added three runs in the ninth. Tampa Bay relievers combined to retire 12 of the last 14 batters they faced to end the game.

"Their five-run (third) inning kind of took the wind out of our sails," Francona said. "You could see it. All of a sudden we're down five."

Cleveland's one hit marked its lowest total in a game since the Indians were no-hit by the Angels' Ervin Santana on July 7, 2011.

NOTES: RHP Chris Archer is scheduled to be added to the roster and will make his first start for Tampa Bay on Saturday. Archer will be the eighth different starter the Rays have used in their last 17 games. ... After making his major league debut on Thursday night in Miami, RHP Alex Colome was optioned to Class AAA Durham on Friday and the Rays recalled LHP Jeff Beliveau, but then optioned Beliveau back to Durham following Friday's game. ... Raburn, who left Thursday's game with a strained calf, was in the starting lineup on Friday. ... Gomes, the Indians' backup catcher, has thrown out 62 percent of attempted base stealers (8 of 13).